At 6:00 a.m. on Monday, strong flood currents submerge the streets of San Miguel, Bulacan following the onslaught of Typhoon Karding. (Screengrab from Neil Arwin Mercado / INQUIRER.net / Twitter)
MANILA, Philippines — Typhoon Karding (international name: Noru), which continues to move away from Luzon, has caused damage and losses of P141.38 million to the agricultural sector.
The agricultural damage and loss areas are Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos Region, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon).
“For agriculture, we received information from the Department of Agriculture (DA), halos umabot na po sa affected… 740 farmers,” National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council spokesperson Raffy Alejandro said in a press briefing.
(For agriculture, we received information from the Department of Agriculture that almost 740 farmers were affected.)
So far, 16,229 hectares of land were reported to be affected, with a total volume loss of 5.8 metric tons.
Among the affected commodities were rice, corn, and high-value crops.
In a bulletin, the DA said that they would provide affected farmers with 133,240 bags of rice seeds, 5,729 bags of corn seeds, and 4,911 kilograms of assorted vegetable seeds.
The livestock and poultry industry will receive drugs and biologics from the DA.
Meanwhile, affected fisherfolk will get fingerlings and other assistance from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
The DA will make the Survival and Recovery Program of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council available for affected farmers and fisherfolk.
P500 million worth of quick response funds will likewise be given for the rehabilitation of affected areas.
Karding, currently categorized as a typhoon, was last located 230 kilometers west of Dagupan City, Pangasinan, after ravaging Luzon over the weekend.
It is currently moving west-northwestward at 30 kilometers per hour away from Luzon.
Typhoon Karding is expected to leave the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Monday night. —with reports from Zacarian Sarao